New Site - Old Content 301 vs Robots.txt

[jaffstar]

We launched a new site, and keep finding old pages or references to old pages either in google search OR in Google Sitemaps diagnostics.

We have been 301'ing these pages back to home, however I am wondering if I should :

1. Delete the old file? Or just redirect or do both?
2. AS well as... Block it in Robots.txt?

[tedster]

Are you talking about 2 different domains, or new urls on the same domain?

As a general rule, I find 301 to Home to be problematic if it gets widespread on a domain. It's better to send the redirect to a specific replacement url, or let it go 404 (410). If you let a url go 404, then you don't need robot.txt at the same time.

[jaffstar]

Hi,

Lets say I have a new site (brand new design with new file/site structure and new content) and I have an old site with the old file structure online, which still has PR etc.

page-abc.html has actually been scrapped and we dont need to take the exact content and 301 it to newpageabc.html If thats the case, to I just redirect the entire old site to index.html?